A chairperson is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, committee, or other deliberative body. Meetings are sometimes held around conference tables. ... An organization or organisation (read more about -ize vs -ise) is a formal group of people with one or more shared goals. ... A committee is a (relatively) small group that can serve one of several functions: Governance: in organizations too large for all the members to participate in decisions affecting the organization as a whole, a committee (such as a Board of Directors) is given the power to make decisions. ... A deliberative body (or deliberative assembly) is an organization which collectively makes decisions after debate and discussion. ...

The term, or simply chair, are used increasingly to avoid what some perceive as sexist assumptions with use of the term chairman. Alternatively, the title of chairwoman is sometimes used if the incumbent is female. A chair or seat is also a seat of office, authority, or dignity, such as the chairperson of a committee, or a professorship at a college or university, or the individual that presides over business proceedings. ... Gender-neutral language (gender-generic, gender-inclusive, non-sexist, or sex-neutral language) is language that attempts to refer neither to males nor females when discussing an abstract or hypothetical person whose sex cannot otherwise be determined. ... // In politics The incumbent, in politics, is the current holder of a political office. ...

While chairperson dates from the 1970s, the use of chair (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) to refer to someone in charge of a meeting dates from as early as 1658. 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Cover of the Pocket version of the Oxford English Dictionary The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). ... Events January 13 - Edward Sexby, who had plotted against Oliver Cromwell, dies in Tower of London February 6 - Swedish troops of Charles X Gustav of Sweden cross The Great Belt (Storebælt) in Denmark over frozen sea May 1 - Publication of Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial and The Garden of Cyrus by...

Types

Generally, there are two types of chairpersons: non-executive and executive.

A non-executive chairperson will sit on and chair the main board of a company and be a part-time officer who usually provides support and advice to a chief executive officer (CEO). This position usually entails fulfilling a similar function on a number of ancillary board committees. It has been suggested that Board of Trustees be merged into this article or section. ... A company in the broadest sense is an aggregation of people who stay together for a common purpose. ... A chief executive officer (CEO) or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or executive officer of a corporation, company, or agency. ...

An executive chairperson is a full-time position who typically not only leads the board but will also take a hands-on role in the companies day to day running. An executive chairperson frequently sits on the management executive board of the company, though this board may still be led by the CEO.

Corporate governance

So far as the boards of public companies are concerned, the role of the chairman of the board as distinct from that of the company's CEO or managing director has more recently been brought into focus, stemming from alleged corporate governance shortcomings observed in companies where the two roles are combined. A pivotal document regarding effective governance is the Cadbury Report, the recommendations of which have been adopted to greater or lesser extent by the European Union, the United States, the World Bank, and others. The phrase Chairman of the Board has several meanings: Chairman of the Board is the term used to denote the leader of a corporations board of directors. ... Managing director is the term used for the chief executive of many limited companies in the United Kingdom and some other English speaking countries. ... Corporate governance is the set of processes, customs, policies, laws and institutions affecting the way a corporation is directed, administered or controlled. ... The Cadbury Report, titled Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance, sets out recommendations on the arrangement of company boards and accounting systems to mitigate European Union, the United States, the World Bank, and others, External link Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance (aka the Cadbury Report) Caution - PDF Categories: Economic Stubs ... Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means...

It is common for board members to hold memberships of several boards and committees at once. Diversifying board memberships gives a broader sense of what is appropriate when making decisions.

A chairperson is selected by a company's shareholders. A chairperson's role is often to build a consensus from what can be disparate point of view. Therefore, the chairperson must be fair, a good listener, and a good communicator. A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or company (including a corporation), that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a joint stock company. ... Consensus has two common meanings. ... Perspective in theory of cognition is the choice of a context or a reference (or the result of this choice) from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience, cohesively forming a coherent belief, typically for comparing with another. ...

Other uses

• In the People's Republic of China, the title of "Chairman" is often used interchangeably with that of president (e.g., Chairman Mao).
• Chairperson is the English name of Iincyo from Capcom's Rival Schools games.